Thanks to a literacy grant fromBetter World Books, Harris County Public Library was able to partner with Harris County Precinct 1's Finnigan Park to build a Living Library at their Youth Education Tower (YET) Center. Located in the 5th Ward, Finnigan Park’s YET Center serves as a safe, after-school space for elementary and middle school students from three neighborhood schools.

It’s the Holiday Season! Maud Marks Library wants to help out with your last minute gift shopping. Do you have a relative you just can’t think about what to buy them? Do you have a child who would give anything for a new book? We have you covered with our 3rd annual Local Literary Festival and Market on December 3 at 12:30-4:30.

We are delighted to announce that we have added Pronunciator, a new language-learning tool to our roster of online resources. Pronunciator features live tutors, movies, music lyrics and more to make learning fun and easy, as well as drills, quizzes, virtual coaching and other features to keep you on track.

If you want another reason to visit the library with your kids, here’s one: ABCMouse in the house! ABCMouse is an online service that offers over five thousand fun, interactive books, games, puzzles and more for children ages 2 - 7 years.
The makers of ABCMouse, Age of Learning, Inc., are now offering it free of charge for in library use to all Harris County Public Library customers.

It’s easy to get started. ABCMouse is installed on all library computers that kids can use. You just click on your child’s age, choose an avatar and go. But we suggest you create a free login that you can use whenever you visit the library. That way you can save your child’s progress and pick up right where you left off the next time you come in.

You’ve heard a lot about eBooks. You’re curious and wonder what all the fuss is about, but don’t really want to drop your hard-earned cash on a Kindle so you can find out. Now, you don’t have to. You can borrow a Kindle Touch from us to take home and try out. It’s simple; you check it out just like other library books. Yes. Really.

• You can find one in the catalog just like any other item. Search: kindle touch
• If your HCPL branch doesn’t have one on hand, you can request one online and pick it up when it arrives.
• You can use the Kindle to check out free eBooks from HCPL’s collection or download books available on Amazon.com
• You get to keep it for two weeks.
• All you need is an HCPL library card.

Harris County Public Library is the first library system in Texas to circulate one million eBooks in a calendar year

Last January, we challenged you to checkout a million eBooks in 2016 and, in the process, make HCPL the first library system in Texas to circulate a million eBooks in a calendar year. Your response was overwhelming to put it mildly. We are delighted to announce that on Thursday, November 10, one of you put us over the top--with fifty days left in the year! That is an average of 2,500 or so eBooks checked out every day.

All of us at HCPL want to congratulate everyone who helped us toward the goal, whether you checked out five eBooks or fifty or more, you made a difference. We knew you were up to the task, but we had no idea that you would embrace Project Mill-E with such gusto. Thank you all.

In the end, Project Mill-E is not about numbers or bragging rights, Edward Melton, Harris County Public Library’s Director.sees it as evidence of the continued transformation in the ways our customers access information and entertainment, and the necessity for the library to adapt to them, “HCPL and public libraries in general, are constantly evolving and changing to better meet the information needs of the community regardless of the format.”

West University Place City Council recently approved funding for necessary improvements to West University Branch Library that will bring it into full compliance with new ADA and safety requirements. Although no firm completion date is currently available, it is hoped the branch will reopen in January 2017.

Book Buddies is a free program that brings children and volunteers together to share the joy of reading. It pairs trained volunteers (Big Buddies) with children in Kindergarten through 3rd grades (Little Buddies). For 10 weeks, the Buddies meet once a week in the afternoon for 45 minutes of shared reading.

Our next session will run from February 2017 to April 2017. We are offering the program at five locations with Adult Volunteers: Freeman, Katy, Kingwood, Fairbanks, and Octavia Fields. If you are 18 or over and interested in volunteering, please fill out the online application.

The specific dates and times of Book Buddies sessions for each branch will be reviewed at the training. In the event of any scheduling conflicts, there is an Alternate Big Buddy option that allows for more flexibility.